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Mary Antin's Journey To America Sparknotes

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Mary Antin’s Journey to America Born on June 13, 1881, Maryashe Antin became famous for her book, “The Promise Land,” published in 1912. The author was young Jewish Russian woman who emigrated to the United States of America. The Antin family’s migration to the land of freedom didn’t quite come easily. In her book, she elucidates her and her family’s experiences, adversities, and changes that came with their immigration in order to achieve peace, education, and freedom. Despite all the struggles and differences between Russian and American styles of life, the decision of her family to move to the USA definitely had a positive impact on her worldview and future life. Her father, Israel Pinchus Antin, was a merchant. By the time of religious …show more content…

However, academic skills were not enough for the integration into the new community. She studied how to trade with a fruit peddler and be no longer afraid of policemen. The way she dressed changed as well, as she adopted American fashion in clothes. The author depicts a moment when her family changed their “hateful homemade European costumes, which pointed us out as "greenhorns" to the children on the street” for real American machine-made garments, with genuine pleasure and pride. Moreover, in order to integrate themselves into the American society she and her siblings abandoned even their names. Fetchke, Joseph, and Deborah were substituted with Frieda, Joseph, and Dora, respectively. Mary Antin associated the achieving of American-sounding names with the beginning of new life, and, therefore, was disappointed with her almost unchanged “Strange-sounding American name” (Antin, …show more content…

During the preparation for a history lesson about George Washington, she was deeply impressed by this personality and a revolution he created. Mary wondered “how the patriots planned the Revolution, and the women gave their sons to die in battle, and the heroes led to victory, and the rejoicing people set up the Republic, it dawned on me gradually what was meant by my country” (Antin, 222). She did not understand it, but rather felt her newly emerged citizenship like people feel God or their

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